The Dispensation of the Gospel - Lesson 3 — Robert Wurtz II

The Born Again Experience and Salvation from Sin

I'm going to continue our study this morning in a lesson series that I have titled, The Distanciation of the Gospel, Rediscovering the Workings of the Holy Ghost. We've talked a lot over the last year or so about getting back to God, getting back to basics.

We've talked a lot about repentance. And a lot of times I get very tempted to point out the wrong that I see, to point out the negative, and to say this is wrong and that is wrong, or this is wrong here and that's wrong there.

And that is very easy to do. But this year I feel the Lord has set it in my heart to take the plumb line, or the measuring stick as it were, and just lay it out so everyone can see what the genuine is.

And then come to their own conclusions. And I want to continue on in this series this morning. The first lesson was titled, The Born Again Experience. And we talked in that lesson about the three basic types of sinners being careless sinners, awakened sinners, and convicted sinners.

And we added an addendum to that lesson last week, and I talked about being crucified with Christ, and the importance of being dead to the old man. And this week we're going to continue on in our study, and I've entitled this lesson, Saved from Sin.

Jesus Saves His People from Their Sins

Our text this morning,. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. You see, there is a change of heart that accompanies the genuine born again experience, in which sin is no longer viewed as a means to gratification or happiness.

Sin is seen as a means of death that is the source of all evil, pain, and suffering. See, there is a change of mind and heart that takes place when we are genuinely born again, where we don't view sin as something attractive like we do before.

We are repulsed by sin. We see sin as the destructive force that it is. Our heart has been changed. Our desires have changed. Unrepentant sinners are proficient in sin, through their own vain imaginations coupled with the various inventions of our times.

See, the world has made it very easy to sin nowadays. You know, the Scripture teaches that God made man upright, but He has made many inventions, and those inventions have been used to further their sin and evil.

In contrast, the born again understand that they cannot be saved from hell until they are first saved from sin. Sin is not their friend, Satan is not their friend, and the world is not their friend. They realize that sin is forgiven when it is repented of and not while persisted in.

The purpose of God in saving man was not to abolish the law and allow man to sin with impunity. That would be antinomianism or lawlessness. See, God didn't send Jesus to save us from our sins so that we can continue on being unrighteous and everything like that.

He sent Him to take away our sin and to save us from sin. The purpose was to establish the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ as we walk in the Spirit in harmony with the personality of God. In this lesson, I propose briefly to examine two things.

Justification and Salvation from Sin's Penalty

First, salvation from the penalty of sin, and secondly, salvation from the power of sin. Salvation from the penalty of sin. Justification is an act on the part of God in which He pardons man from the penalty of sins that are passed by faith in Christ's shed blood and declares them to be righteous.

Unless you have been pardoned of your sin, the process of regeneration cannot take place. You have to be cleansed of sin. You have to be pardoned of your sin so that the Holy Spirit can come in and dwell in your temple or in you, as it were.

The sin that once separated the sinner from God is pardoned, and the sinner is sanctified unto God. Sanctified means set apart for the Lord's service. If you were to get married, we attended a marriage ceremony just last week.

When two people get up to get married, they're not saying, I'm going to give you 50 of myself and I'm going to give you 40 of myself. It's 100 commitment, right? It's a 100 setting apart of one another to each other for the purpose of being in covenant marriage.

The same thing takes place when we are saved. God sets us apart 100 for his glory and purpose. We don't hold back a little bit. We don't do any of that. It's one of the things we have to understand about the rich young ruler.

Jesus was saying, I want 100%. But the rich young ruler was saying, no, I want to hold back part of the price. Jesus, but with his infinite understanding and knowledge by the power of the Holy Spirit, put his finger right on that 10 or whatever that he was going to hold back and say, I want that also.

The young man went away sorrowful. God wants 100 of us, not just a little bit. He wants all of us. This is sanctification unto God. To understand justification, we must first realize that we are speaking primarily of a legal process in which God meets out justice for the sins that were committed against him and his law.

In this case, we want to examine five things here. First of all, the law of God. Secondly, charges of sin committed against that law. Third, the evidence of sins committed. Fourth, the verdict, which is, of course, against us, or the condemnation, and then finally, the pardon.

The Law of God and Human Accountability

The law of God. The first biblical principle we must understand. Now, keep in mind as I'm speaking that the things that I'm talking about aren't things that you just can say, well, I can take this or leave this.

This is information that you can use to win sinners to the Lord. See, most of us here, I'm sure, are saved. But when you're winning people to the Lord, there's things that I'm going to talk about in this next paragraph that you can use and really need to know if you're trying to win somebody to God.

Win them over to salvation. The first biblical principle we must understand is that man is responsible for everything they know or should know about God's will. Men are made to know right from wrong first by the law of God that is written upon their hearts from birth.

I've talked to people and people that didn't even know the Lord and never were raised in church. And I would ask them, when you would commit this certain sin, did you or did you not know it was wrong?

They'd say, oh, sure, I knew it was wrong. Did anyone ever tell you that it was wrong? Not that I know of. Why is that? Because God has placed His law upon the hearts of man to be used by their conscience to judge right from wrong on a very, very basic level.

This is true for somebody who lives in the deepest jungles of Africa all the way to the largest cities in the United States. People have been born with the law of God written upon their heart in a very basic sense, and they need to know that.

There's a whole study you could do on natural law that shows that this is true. The conscience uses these laws as the measuring rod with which to judge our actions. The conscience is either condemning or excusing our behavior.

Additional knowledge of God's will is added to these laws that are written upon our hearts. Say, for example, you were able to come into possession of a Bible. You then begin to have a greater awareness of the will of God, or you sit and hear some sort of preaching, or you're maybe listening on the radio, or whatever source, however it comes to you, it is adding to your knowledge of the will of God.

Some have greater access to the knowledge of God's will than others, and all are judged based upon the extent of their privilege. See, everyone has at least the law of God written on their heart. They have the light of conscience.

They have the light of creation with which to be able to understand God's will. The Bible says that you can look at the creation and know that there's a God, and you can have a certain level of understanding of the fact that there is a God.

The Word of God further teaches that if we will walk in the understanding that we know God will give you more light. Okay? We're talking about knowledge being light. He will give you more light, and then you will walk in more light, and so on and so forth.

So many times people say, well, what about people who have never heard the Gospel? Those people are accountable for what they know. Do you understand that? They're accountable for the fact that they refuse to walk in the light that they have got.

Here we meet a second principle, and it's that of God supplying more revelation for the first revelation when it is rightly responded to. Rather, for those who walk in the light they possess, God will supply more light, so on and so forth.

Excuses are void once a means of knowing God's will is readily available. See, we're not just accountable for what we know, we're accountable for what we should know. We're accountable for what we could know.

See, there is churches on every corner in America, and it's not enough just to say I don't know. If I'm driving, say for example, if I'm driving 50 miles an hour, and I run a stop sign because I turned my head, and I tell the officer I never saw it, do you think that's going to fly with him?

I never saw it, officer. No, sure you didn't, sir, because you turned your head. And that's what I'm talking about. I should have saw it, but I intentionally made it an effort to not know what God's will was.

And we need to realize that. The Bible said these things they are willingly ignorant of, and there is a willful ignorance that God is also going to judge. Failure to know God's will when the means are available does not diminish a person's accountability before God, but rather aggravates their crimes as they have rejected the opportunity to know God's will.

Hosea 4, 6, because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you. That's what God is saying. These factors are assessed in God's perfect justice and charged to sinners accordingly. You just sit and play that out in your mind, it would stagger you.

It would really stagger you. I did a lesson last year where I talked about so many different sources of light here in America, and especially in Kansas City, that we're subjected to, that we're accountable for.

And it's unbelievable the amount of light that we have that we're accountable for. Moreover, any doubtful act is sin. You need to realize that. That is, if a person believes something might be sin, it is certainly sin to them.

It is certainly sin. The Bible said, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. If you cannot do it in a clear conscience, it is sin to you. Because you're doing it believing you are sinning against God. Therefore, it is sin to you.

Read Romans chapter 14, verse 23. And true acknowledgement of God would be to refrain from any doubtful act that the possibility could be that it would offend God. Refrain from any doubtful act. We should do that.

So I don't know if that's sin or not. Well, why just go ahead and do it? In contrast to this is presumptuous sin. Presumptuous sin is a reckless, willful sin against light and conscience in blatant and high-handed disregard of God.

David calls it the great transgression. It's a dangerous thing to sin with much light. Really knowing better and just high-handedly sinning, especially if we're born-again believers. Very dangerous thing.

Sinning, Brother Westlake calls it, with a high hand. All of these and many other aspects of God's law ought to forever humble every human being as all are convicted in their own conscience of their guilt.

So we've established the law that God has set. Someone could say, well, I was never under the Old Testament law. That's true. But how much of God's will did you have knowledge of? That's what you're accountable for.

The Charges and Evidence of Sin

Secondly, charges of sins committed against that law. God himself has declared all to be under sin, Galatians 3 .22. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understands.

There is none that seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues they have used to see.

The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. That is an indictment, friend. Have you ever read that passage and thought of the charges that God has leveled against mankind that are unrepentant? Thirdly, the evidence of sins committed.

Man's own conscience testifies against him that he or she is a sinner. See, our own conscience testifies against us and concurs with the law of God. This is something that you have to realize. There is a message that I taught last year that was titled, God cannot please sinners.

We need to realize that any time that someone is speaking something, the conscience, especially like if I am teaching, your conscience is judging based upon what you know from God's word, everything that I say, whether it be true or false.

Your conscience is judging. Now, if you're impenitent, your heart may hate everything that I say. You may want to rise up and say, you know, I'd really like to tell him a thing or two. But your conscience is amening every time.

Your conscience is saying, you know he's right. You know that's God's word. You know he's right. See, it's impossible to please an unrepentant sinner because what the unrepentant heart loves, the conscience condemns.

And what the conscience will agree with, the heart hates. You see that? It's impossible to please them. Say, for example, I was to water this message totally down, water it down. The heart would say, you know, I really like that teacher.

I really like him. He's good. But the conscience would say, he is a fraud. Don't trust a word he says. You see that? You see the conscience in that role. The conscience has made known through the pricking of the inward parts for every unlawful deed done and has reminded everyone faithfully of their neglect of known duties.

The Holy Spirit also uses your conscience in this role, constantly telling you, you need to do this. You ought to do that. You ought to help them. You ought to love them. You shouldn't do that. Why do you do that?

See, your conscience is constantly working, whether you're saved or not, to lead and direct you in your behavior. Moreover, every transgression and disobedience is recorded individually by God in the eternal record of remembrance to ensure that God's justice is fully meted out.

Hebrews tells us if every transgression and disobedience receives a just recompensive reward, how shall we escape? How shall we escape? That's something to think about. Fourth, the verdict. The condemnation is brought to bear upon the mind by the power of the Holy Ghost who convinces men of their sin.

The Verdict, Mercy Seat, and Pardon

In this life, it is made known to man that there are sinners awaiting sentencing and the execution of that sentence. If they meet not God, watch this, at the place of propitiation, they will meet Him at the great white throne judgment.

The place of propitiation is the mercy seat. Back in the late 1800s, when, say, for example, the Salvation Army or some of these old-timey preachers would preach, when they would give an altar call, they would say, come to the mercy seat.

Come to the mercy seat. Come to the mercy seat. Be saved from your sin. That's how they gave an altar call, because the mercy seat is the place of propitiation. It is the place where God has decided, because He has paid the price through Christ's shed blood for our sin, that He can reconcile with us.

It's like a meeting place. Think of it as a place where we can come and reason together. And though your sin be as scarlet as it be white as snow, this is the place of propitiation. We will either meet God in that place of propitiation in this life, or we will meet our sin at the great white throne judgment.

Men are convinced of their guilt and are admonished to accept by faith the free pardon of their sin, that they may have a transformation in their whole person that will allow them to walk in conformity to the will of God that they have heretofore shunned.

That's what happens. When you come to the mercy seat, when God forgives you of all your sins, pardons you of all of your sins, prepares you, as it were, for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, regeneration as we would call it, that is what we need in this life.

Because if the Holy Spirit does not come in, and this is where we're going to change gears in this lesson, if the Holy Spirit does not come in to live inside of you and walk and live this Christian life in through you, you will never walk with God.

I don't care how many rules you set up. I don't care if you lay down just a few bad habits. You will never walk with God. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to do it. And until this temple is cleansed, until sin is purged, the Holy Spirit cannot come in.

There are many people that come to the mercy seat and they would say, Lord, I want my sins forgiven. God, forgive me of all of my sins. And they go through the process of being cleansed and being delivered.

But at that time when they need to invite God in and say, God, I want to be full of the Holy Ghost. I want to be full of your Spirit. They kind of say, No, God, you know, I want to be forgiven of my sin, but I want you to stay at arm's length.

This is a message that I taught just two weeks ago. Listen, the devil's coming back and he's bringing his friends. Hmm? Do you realize that if we're not full of the Holy Spirit, so that God can work out our Christian life through us, then we're left to stand in the power of the flesh?

This is summed up in this one saying, Agree with your adversary quickly while you are in the way with him. Let your adversary deliver you to the judge. The judge hand you over to the officer and you be thrown into prison.

Assuredly, I say unto you, you will by no means get out till you have paid the last penny. What does that mean? While we are walking in this life, we need to receive the pardon that God has granted. We need to look at the charges that are against us.

We need to look at the amount of time, as it were, and penalty that we're facing. Come to ourself and say, God, let us reason together. I want my sins to be pardoned. I don't want to continue in that life.

I want to be changed and transformed by your Holy Spirit. Finally, the pardon. Justification is an act of God's grace in which he pardons us for our sin by means of the death of Christ upon the cross.

This justification comes about after us having been placed in Christ, as it were, by faith. We've been baptized into Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Christ is the propitiation for our sin. His blood expiates our sins.

In other words, it lets them go. It lets them pass. Propitiation is the price paid for bringing reconciliation between enemies. You remember, I have a dear brother, Ron Bailey, who tells the story about how Jacob and Esau, in the Bible, were about to meet up again.

And Jacob was very concerned that when his brother Esau saw him, he was going to do harm to him. So he sent a big, huge gift before him in order to, as it were, placate the wrath that his brother Esau would have had against him.

This is the same type of thought, same type of thinking here. When we rightly respond to the drawing of the Holy Spirit and exercise genuine faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, we are pardoned of all of our past sins.

This act of faith towards God is total and not partial. It's 100%, just like in marriage. You're giving yourself 100 to the person you marry. It is a complete turning to God with all bridges burned behind.

This justification brings with it the blessedness of having one's sins forgiven, transgressions blotted out, once pardoned, listen, no matter how great the sin or no matter how many the sin, the sinner is reconciled to God.

Amen? Think about that. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. It makes no difference how great the sin, how many the sin, or any of that. Then finally, section two here, save from the power of sin.

Love for God and Freedom from Sin

Evidence of freedom from sin first. We supremely love whom we supremely desire to please. This axiom either proves our love for self or for Christ. Based solely upon the evidence, freedom from sin is expressed by our loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength, and our neighbor as ourself.

That's the question. Secondly, habitual sin is unchristian and is ultimately fatal to the soul. Remember what I said in the beginning, when you're transformed and born again to the spirit, you do not view sin the same way.

If you've gotten to a place where you find sin attractive and you're allured by sin, what's happened is that you've subjected yourself to sin until it's begin to taint and slant and skew your view of sin.

A true born again believer does not look at sin like someone else does who's never been saved. Real obedience to God involves and implies supreme regard for his authority. We honor that authority by our obedience to him.

Disobedience for a Christian is not normal and must not be habitual. Amen? Christians do not live in known sin. They are to live their lives with a conscience void of offense towards God and man, as it is written.

Now this is the end of the commandment. It is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. This is to walk before God without any known sin between man and God and man and their fellow man.

Any controversy that you have with the Holy Spirit, whether it's between you and God or between you and a fellow man, God wants you dealing with it. The Bible said when you come to the altar and you remember that someone has ought against you, first go be reconciled with them, and then come back and bring your gift.

But what's happened to us in this generation is that we have forgotten that we need to do that. And we think that we can just continue on allowing these things to build up and build up and build up and God rejects that.

This is a truth of Scripture that cannot be bypassed. We have to make things right with God. We have to make things right with man before God accepts any of our service. This is to walk before God without any known sin between man and God and man and his fellow man.

In the epistle of John we read,. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and He knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. You could stop and preach a sermon right there.

What is it that robs us of the boldness that we should have as Christians? Whether it be to witness or whether it be to stand up for righteousness. What is it that saps our zeal? Very clearly this verse tells us,.

If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. If my heart does not condemn me, then I know that whatever I do, God is going to be with me. When I get up here and teach, God is going to be with me.

If I get up and preach, God is going to be with me. If I get up and sing, God is going to be with me. If I go out and witness on the street, God is going to be with me. Why? Because my heart does not condemn me.

If my heart is condemning me, I'm going to be very timid. Very timid. You know why? Because you're going to think, I don't think me and God, we're not really where we need to be. And there's a question mark there.

And you do not have confidence toward God because there's known sin in your life and your conscience is bringing it to the surface. Trying to live the Christian life in known sin is to shatter our confidence toward God.

Those who live in known sin have no confidence that God will answer their prayers or that He will anoint them for service. Finally, God has set men free from the power of sin through the born again experience.

Walking in the Spirit and Freedom from Sin's Dominion

This liberty also renders us justified before God and under no condemnation so long as we walk in the Spirit. Occasionally, under the great force of temptation, a person may commit a sin or displease God, but this is in no wise normal for a genuine Christian.

It's not normal. It's not normal. Those who are justified and are born again do not continue in sin. They are dead to sin and cannot live any longer therein. Their old man is crucified with him that the body of sin being destroyed so that henceforth they do not serve sin.

Being dead with Christ, they are free from sin. The born again are dead to sin and alive to God. Sin have no more dominion over them who are not under the law but under grace. But that these being free from sin are become the servants of righteousness.

Mortifying the Deeds of the Body by the Holy Spirit

Romans 6, 14 and 18. This does not mean, however, that we do not suffer temptations because we do. Finally, the solution to temptation and if you miss everything I say today, don't miss this. Because this is the crux of everything I want to say.

The solution to temptation is found primarily in Romans 8, 13 and 14. For if we live after the flesh, you shall die. Underline this. But if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. You remember the story. Jesus is being baptized. John says, you need to be baptizing me. Why am I baptizing you, to paraphrase. He said, it must be so that I would fulfill all righteousness.

John baptizes him. We hear a voice from heaven, as the Jews would say, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. You hear that? Hear ye him, or whatever he says at that point. The Spirit of God descends upon him and he begins to be led of the Spirit at that point on out into a desert place to be tested of the devil.

Do you see what it is to be a true son of God, a child of God? God says, this is my child. The Spirit of God has come upon them and then they are led of the Spirit. That's what it is to be a true child of God.

It's not to take and get a bunch of laws for yourself and say, I'm going to keep these laws and call it Christian. That's not Christianity. Christianity is being full of the Holy Spirit, being led of the Spirit, and that's what authenticates you as a child of God.

The Spirit of God calls out from within you, Abba, Father. He's saying, this is my son. You are my Father. You see that? You're led of the Holy Ghost. And through the Spirit of God, you mortify the deeds of the flesh.

The Spirit of God does the work in you as you're full of the Holy Ghost. Brother Birch has talked about it for years and I would always be searching the Scripture, what is the key to victory over sin?

And it seemed like that week he would say it again, you just need to be full of the Holy Ghost. And I would just cringe and say, that's not acceptable. That is not the answer I want to hear. There's got to be another way.

But there is no other way. There is no other way. But what ultimately happens to us is we get just like Lot. We think, you know, I don't want to be on the mountain. I don't want to be full of the Holy Ghost.

I want to be over here and then still expect to have victory. And so are. You can't do it. You can't do it. Listen, you'll search the Scriptures till doom's day and you are not going to find any other means of mortifying the deeds of the flesh than by the Holy Ghost.

There is no other means. This passage is parallel to Colossians 3, 5, and 6. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry.

For which things say, the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. Notice the contrast in these passages. The difference between the sons of God and the children of disobedience. Notice this.

That they mortify the deeds of the body by the Holy Spirit while the children of disobedience do not. That's the difference. The one has the Holy Spirit living with them mortifying or sucking the life out.

Think of that. Pulling the life out of the flesh of the body to want to sin against God because the Holy Spirit is there in charge of all of the desires that are natural and good by the way. But see what the devil does is he offers you a bad means to fulfill a good desire.

See we have a desire to eat. We have a desire to procreate. We have a desire for knowledge. We even have a desire because God gave Adam dominion over the earth to have authority. But what the enemy does is he steps in and offers us a bad means to exercise a good desire.

And when the Holy Ghost is there, the Holy Ghost shuts that down. Says that's not happening. And suppresses that and keeps all of our natural desires and affections in accordance with His Spirit. This is what's taking place.

The Holy Spirit is the means of mortifying the deeds of the flesh. You must remain filled with the Holy Ghost or there will be no victory over the flesh. Period. This axiom is simple. When the deeds of the flesh live, our relationship with God dies.

When the Spirit mortifies the flesh, we live. Very simple. Very simple. We are saved from the power of sin by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does the work that puts the deeds of the flesh to death in us.

The flesh is only as dead as you are full of the Holy Ghost. This fullness comes as a result of a different picture of justification of sin and it is that of the cleansing of the temple. The sacrifice is made, the blood is sprinkled, both to expiate the sin and purge the defilement that is caused by the sin.

You know the Scripture said when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it walks through dry places, seeks rest, finding none, comes back, pounds the house, swept, garnished, put in order, it's cleaned up, all of that.

Okay? This is the picture. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, then fills the believers once purged and they become the habitation of God. All of the various means of invitation to the Holy Spirit can now be employed to bring us to fullness.

Say what's that? Prayer, reading your Bible, asking God to baptize you in the Holy Ghost so that you're full of the Holy Ghost, spending time in worship, worshiping God, anything that God will inhabit or it draws God near to you as it were.

Grieving the Holy Spirit and the Cycle of Temptation

And one last thing I want to say along these lines. It's a vicious cycle, church. It's a vicious cycle, I'm going to tell you as we all know it from experience. It's a vicious cycle that when we sin, we grieve away the Holy Ghost.

Did you know that? The Bible says submit yourself therefore unto God, resist the devil and he will flee. Does that same principle hold true if we submit ourselves to sin and the devil, resist the Holy Ghost?

Hmm? He doesn't flee from us, he's grieved. He's grieved. And the problem with that is when you grieve the Holy Ghost and he starts to lift and starts to pull off, he is the very source of you mortifying the flesh.

So unless you deal with that thing, right at that moment, you are left virtually helpless for the next encounter when the devil comes around. Do you see that? You see why it's like, man, when I stumble, I don't just stumble, I seem to just crash and burn.

I don't understand that why I stumble, the next thing that happens, I'm just wound up in that sin again. The reason you're wound up in it again is because you grieve the Holy Ghost away and instead of dealing with it, boom, right then, seeking the Lord in prayer until you're back to a place where you can handle the next event, if you put it off, the devil's coming and he's bringing his friends.